Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2005-11-11

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INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
What recourse do
we have?
page 6
Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe: People's Right
to Know
page 6
Open Letter to
MCT's TEC
Deafening Silence
page 4
MCT Secretarial
Election, Manner
of Review
page 5
Family Advocacy
Center could
be first step in
changing the
system
page 4
Family Advocacy Center to be operational in Bemidji
By Bill Lawrence
Try to imagine what it would be
like to be the 7-year-old victim of
sexual and physical violence. First
you experience the terror and the
pain. Then the embarrassment of
being taken to strangers who likely
remove your clothing and give you
a thorough, but uncomfortable and
frightening, physical examination.
You may again feel pain inflicted
during this process in the form of
stinging antiseptics, shots, stitches,
cleansing, etc.
Your clothing would no doubt
not be returned to you. You might
sit alone for what seems like a
long time on a cold table wearing only a lightweight nightshirt
kind of thing.
Then other strangers stream into
the room. They repeat the questions that you've already been
asked by the health professionals.
They not only ask questions, they
question your answers. They
might say something like, "are
you sure it was XXX?" "When
did this happen to you?" "Who
was there when this happened?"
"Why were you there?" Or they
might challenge your answers saying something like "that isn't what
you told the doctor."
You are literally sick and tired
at this moment. Your parents may
not even be at your side through
all this. You want only to lay your
head down and rest, to sleep away
the pain and the memories.
But now it's time to go somewhere else and talk to the police.
This is absolutely terrifying for
you. The fright makes you weak.
What will they want to know?
What will you say to them? How
will you be able to hide the facts
from them? Maybe you don't
want anyone else to know what
happened to you.
By now guilt enters your consciousness. You're wondering
what you did that brought all
these awful experiences into your
life. Maybe you decide to clam
up and say nothing.
These imaginings are to give a
sense of what a victim of sexual/'
physical assault might be facing. The experiences any victim,
whether female/male, young or old,
are intended to produce healing in
the victim but they often times, no
matter how well intended, promote
shame and fear.
Recognizing how traumatizing the response to an assault
can be, the newly formed Family Advocacy Center of Northern
Minnesota (FAC) intends a very
different scenario. Once open for
business, the Center will be a one-
stop facility where assault victims
will receive the needed medical
and psychological attention they
may need, where counselors and
law enforcement get the answers
they need and it will happen in
one seamless motion because of
the nature and philosophy of the
organization.
Initial encounters and treatments will be videotaped and
victims will be questioned only
once. The information will then
be available to whoever else may
need it, e.g. to pursue criminal
investigations, make referrals to
mental health or legal advocates
or to provide human services.
The Family Advocacy Center
is possible because of $1 million
in grant monies from a variety of
sources. It celebrated the Grand
Opening Tuesday, November 7.
The idea came out of the U.S.
Attorney's Office. The Center
is housed at the North Country
Regional Hospital. It will serve
a 15 county region in Northern
Minnesota, including the three
northern bands of Chippewa,
Red Lake, Leech Lake and White
Earth. It is the only advocacy center specifically designed to serve
American Indians.
The Center is dedicated to providing culturally sensitive, seamless, services to both children and
adult victims. The FAC team will
work collaboratively with health
care professionals, legal and human services and law enforcement
personnel. It will provide health
exams and care, do forensic evaluation, and make appropriate referrals
(for instance, follow up care, legal
services or case management).
In the past, and until the FAC
is operational, victims, including
abused children, faced the imagined scenario printed above. At
the new facility, these same services will be provided in a child
friendly environment.
At the present time an abused
child is often transported to St.
Paul for a medical evaluation to
detennine whether sexual abuse
has occurred.
The Center intends to provide
all needed services for victims in
one location and. at the same time,
give appropriate information to so
cial service and law enforcement
officials.
The FAC will additionally provide education about domestic
and intimate partner abuse with
the intention of breaking habits
of violent behavior and teaching appropriate alternatives and
responses to violence.
Funding and support for the
Center has come from several
sources. They include the Department of Justice, the Shakopee
Mdewakanton, and Prairie Island
Communities, by the Mille Lacs
Band of Chippewa, Blue Cross/
Blue Shield of Minnesota, the
Northwest Foundation, Target
Corporation and other giving
foundations. Some of the funds
have been dedicated to start-up
costs; others will support operations for a period of up to three
years. After that time the Center
expects to be able to find sufficient
support in insurance reimbursements and other payments for
services.
Dr. Diane Bonn is the Executive Director for the FAC. She
will have several staff members,
including Nurse Practitioner
Sherry Ellefson and Administrative Assistant June Kendall.
Dr. Richard Kaplan ofthe Midwest Children's Resources Center
ofthe St. Paul Children's Hospital
and his staff will be available on a
24 hour basis to provide consultation services.
A nine member Board of Directors will govern the Center. They
are: President, Dr. Carolyn Levitt,
Pediatrician & Executive Director of the Midwest Children's
Resource Center of St. Paul;
Executive Vice President, Floyd
Jourdain, Tribal Chairman, Red.
Lake Band of Chippewa; Vice
President of Operations, James
Hanko, President and CEO of
North Country Health Services,
Bemidji; Secretary, Judy Roy,
Tribal Secretary, Red Lake Band
of Chippewa; Treasurer, Lori
Petermeier, Social Worker, Itasca
County Health and Human Services of Grand Rapids.
The 4 Members at Large are:
Earl Maus, Cass County Attorney, Walker; Dr. Maria Statton.
Family Physician at MeritCare
Clinic in Bemidji; Bruce Preece,
Chief of Police, Bemidji; and Dr.
Jim Benson, President Emeritus,
Bemidji State College.
VOICE       OF       THE       PEOPLE
Red Lake man sentenced to 15 years for drive-by shootings
The United States Attorney's
office for Minnesota announced
Tuesday that a 21-year old man
involved in a series of drive-
by shootings that targeted the
homes of tribal law enforcement
officers on the Red Lake Indian
Reservation was sentenced today
in United States District Court to
180 months in prison.
Charles Robert Hegstrom, Jr.,
of Red Lake, pled guilty in May
2004 to four counts of assault
with the intent to commit murder, one count of intimidating a
federal officer, and one court of
discharging a firearm during a
crime of violence.
During the early morning hours
of January 10, 2004, a volley of
shots was fired into four homes
belonging to Red Lake police officers. In three of the instances,
family members, including small
children, were in the homes at the
time of the shooting. Shots were
also fired at the Red Lake Police
Department, the Red Lake Detention Center, and at vehicles, according to a criminal complaint
filed in the case.
The case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation and Red Lake
Police Department. Assistant
United States Attorneys Tracy
Braun and Clifford Wardlaw
prosecuted the case.
Man's death brings Indians,
Duluth officials together
By Paul Levy
Star Tribune
DULUTH - The conversation
in Wednesday's meeting between
Minnesota's tribal leaders and
Duluth's mayor and police chief
revolved around the White Earth
native who stopped breathing after
a confrontation with Duluth police
last month.
But 29-year-old David Croud's
death merely typifies "a deep,
long, historical problem of race
relations" between the Indian community and authorities, White Earth
chairwoman Erma Vizenor said.
"What about the rights and
dignity of the first people of this
country?" Vizenor asked after the
City Hall meeting with Duluth
Mayor Herb Bergson and Police
Chief Roger Waller.
The meeting, believed to be the
first of its kind, was closed to the
media.
Vizenor brought with her a written report of another White Earth
man, Franklin James Brown, 21,
who died May 15 after a confrontation with local deputies on the
reservation. The report, written
by Brown's grandmother, says
Brown was shot 17 times while
his mother, handcuffed without
explanation, listened outside to
her son being shot to death in
their home.
"It's not an issue that's going to
be resolved today or tomorrow,"
Vizenor said of alleged racial
profiling and police brutality.
Of Croud's death, which is still
under investigation, Vizenor said,
"I don't have a lot of faith and
confidence in the investigation
that's taken place." She said she
asked Bergson if authorities from
the White Earth Reservation could
aid in the investigation but said the
mayor did not respond.
Yet Vizenor called the almost
two-hour meeting "positive,"
as did the other tribal leaders,
including Floyd (Buck) Jourdain
of Red Lake, George Goggleye
of Leech Lake, John Morrin of
Grand Portage and Kevin Leecy
of Bois Forte. Waller, Duluth's
police chief, called the meeting
"very productive."
The Duluth officials agreed to
the need for better police-community relations, They applauded the
suggestion that tribal leaders recommend and encourage members
to attend police training programs,
in which they would be trained by
city police.
"No question — training and
learning more about cultural issues can only help," Waller said.
When the tribal leaders asked
why some Indian homicides aren't
prosecuted, they were told by city
officials that they had the right to
meet with the county attorneys.
Another meeting was promised
after the Croud investigation and
autopsy are completed, which
could take another month, authorities have said.
'A strong message'
"We got some answers," Jourdain said. "Good meeting."
"Good dialogue," said Julio
Almanza, Duluth's interim city
administrator.
"We weren't asking for special
treatment," Leecy said. "But we
wanted to send a strong message."
It was Leecy who suggested
the meeting — the first between
DEATH to page 6
Father, son's
caskets offer
ties to American
Indian heritage
Associated Press
By Dave Foster, The Forum
WAUBUN, Minn. - When
his father died, James Weaver
Jr. wanted to lay the man they
called "Iron Legs" to rest with a
reminder of his heritage.
But Weaver, a member of the
White Earth Band of Ojibwe,
couldn't find a casket designed
with American Indian themes in
mind. Instead, he built one himself.
In the five years since, Weaver,
58, and his son, George Meyer,
have built about a dozen more of
the caskets, and they're hoping to
expand the business.
The two are taking a weekly
business course in St. Cloud
through the Twin Cities-based
American Indian Development
Fund. They're working on a business plan and have applied for a
small business grant.
For now, though, they work
about 16 miles east of Waubun in
a trailer off County Road 4.
Weaver, a commercial painter
for 30 years, said his caskets fill
a need for many American Indian
families in the area. Most of the
caskets he and Meyer have built
have gone to relatives, though
one order came all the way from
a stranger in Minneapolis.
"I've had people stop me right
on the middle ofthe road and say,
'Hey, we need a casket,'" Weaver
said.
Using wood burning, the father-
and-son team can design a casket
HERITAGE to page 6
web page: www.press-on.net
Native *ft-
American
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Founded in 1988
Volume 18 Issue 21
November 11, 2005
(l-r) Crystal Lemon, Tawna Rodriquez, Dawn Conger
Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School Field Trip
Sixth Graders at Bug-O-
Nay-Ge-Shig School were
able to present to Renee
Geving of the Cass County
Historical Society their version of the history of Ojibwe
people in Minnesota. Using
data from the Minnesota Historical Society, Cass County
Museum and Cecelia McK-
eig's account ofthe Battle of
Sugar Point, they created a draft of
a power point presentation which
will be available to schools and
interested individuals through the
Cass County Museum. What began as a ServicelLearning Project
for the students will continue this
year with editing and extending of
the account of history of Ojibwe
people in the Leech Lake area.
The students found theirs is a
rich history, as is the history of
Cass County and Minnesota.
The project included a tour
of the museum in Walker. All
involved wish to acknowledge
Mrs. Geving and thank her for
continued support and assistance
in providing the information that
makes this project not only possible, but rewarding for its many
learning opportunities.
Canadian charged in AIM activist's
death to remain free on bail
Associated Press
VANCOUVER, British
Columbia - A Canadian man
ordered back to the United
States to face trial on charges
that he killed an American Indian Movement activist nearly
30 years ago will remain free
on bail until at least June.
John Graham has been out
on bail since shortly after he
was ordered out of Canada last
March. He was detained briefly
at that time but has been on bail
since extradition proceedings
began more than two years ago.
Graham is charged with
first-degree murder in the
death of Nova Scotia native
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in late 1975. Her body
was found on Feb. 24, 1976.
She had been shot in the head.
Graham has pleaded not
guilty and plans to appeal
the extradition order. He
returns to court June 23.
Graham's lawyer, Terry
La Liberte, said Monday the
grounds for an appeal could
include a constitutional challenge of sections of Canada's
Extradition Act. Two similar
cases have been heard in the
Supreme Court of Canada,
which could set a precedent
for his client's case, he said.
Any appeal is contingent
on  those  cases  in  which
the justices have reserved
judgment,  La Liberte  said.
La Liberte also has appealed
directly to Canada's minister
of justice, who must sign any
final removal order in the case.
"We haven't heard back,"
he said. ""It's very stressful. It's something hanging over (Graham's) head."
Justice Elizabeth Bennett
ordered Graham's extradition
after hearings earlier this year.
"There is sufficient evidence
... to commit John Graham for
extradition to the United States
to face the charge in the murder
of Anna-Mae Aquash," she said.
Graham has maintained he
is the victim of a witch hunt.
"There's not enough
there to warrant a trial, let
alone an extradition," he
said at the time of the order.
Aquash's death came amid a series of bloody clashes in the mid-
1970s between federal agents and
Minneapolis-based ATM. Aquash,
a member of Mi'kmaq Tribe of
Canada, was among Indian militants who occupied Wounded
Knee, S.D., for 71 days in 1973.
Prosecutors have said AIM
leaders ordered Aquash's killing
because they suspected she was
a government informant. AIM
leaders have denied that assertion.
Another man, Arlo Looking
AIM to page 6
White House still looking for new
BIA nominee
Several months after
the resignation of former
assistant secretary Dave
Anderson, the Bureau of Indian Affairs still lacks a leader.
Jim Cason, the associate
deputy secretary at the Interior
Department, has been acting as
head of the BIA since February. He told tribal leaders last
week that the Bush administration still hasn't made a
decision about a replacement.
"The White House personnel
still hasn't made a selection yet,"
Cason said last Tuesday at the
National Congress of American
Indians in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Cason didn't say when a
nomination for a new assistant
secretary might be announced.
But his comments indicated
that the process is nowhere
near completion. In the last
five weeks alone, he said he interviewed three more candidates.
"There are still candidates
being identified by White
House personnel," Cason said.
Several people have expressed
interest in the job. The list includes John Gonzales, the governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo
in New Mexico; Jana McKeag,
a Cherokee tribal member and
head of Interior's Indian Arts and
Crafts Board; and Aurene Martin,
the former deputy assistant secretary who left the BIA last year.
But the fact that interviews are
still being conducted means an announcement might not be coming
anytime soon. A selected candidate
will still have to undergo a White
House vetting process, including an FBI review, that can take
BIA to page 6
Opponents of
casino in Grand
Forks circulate
petition
Associated Press
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Aman
who opposes an American Indian
casino here has started a petition
drive against it.
City officials passed a resolution
last month that expresses interest in
a casino project proposed by the
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.
The tribal chairman says fears about
the casino are unfounded.
Jerry Hjelden, a longtime resident
of Grand Forks, said his petition
drive is aimed at dissuading city
officials from becoming involved.
The petition seeks the withdrawal of tentative support from
city officials.
"In essence, the costs far outweigh the benefits. That's the
bottom line," Hjelden said. Cities
with casinos face higher costs,
from paying for extra policing to
paying for social costs associated
with gambling addictions, he said.
Hjelden is working to collect signatures with four others,
including Jeff Schirle, one of
the ministers on staff at Hope
Covenant Church. Schirle said a
casino would raise crime rates and
increase bankruptcies.
"I don't want us to be apathetic," he said. "Let's take a
look at what can happen. We can
have nice bright lights at the south
end of town, but at the same time,
what if a lot of those lights are the
flashing lights on squad cars?
Tribal Chairman Ken Davis
said Indian gambling is heavily
regulated.
"We have the National Indian
Gaming Association, the state and
the tribe itself watching over it,"
he said. "A lot of the allegations,
such as increased crime, don't
have a lot of merit."
Davis said that with the recent letter of encouragement from the City
Council, the tribe is continuing to
pursue the casino idea, but it is too
early to talk about the specifics of
the project
"When the facts are all known,
citizens would welcome us there,"
he said. "We want to provide facts
and information, so people can lay
those fears to rest"
The petition will be presented to
the City Council after it is ready,
Hjelden said. He has no timeline.
"We want to give everyone in
Grand Forks an opportunity to
sign," he said.